Shinjuku Area

Shinjuku and the adult entertainment district known as Kabukicho are filled with stylish host clubs, bars, and all kinds of entertainment that’s definitely not for kids. But it’s also where you can visit one of the most beautiful gardens in Tokyo, pet cats by the hour at a cat café, bar hop the Golden Gai, and eat at the robot restaurant.

If you’re not allergic to cats, let’s start at the Calico Cat Café! We can drink a latte and pet the fifty different kinds of cats for an hour.

The Calico has cats of every stripe and color: Abyssynian, Maine Coon, Munchkin, tabby, calico and more.

Huge cherry trees reflected in one of the pondsReady for a snack? Sweets Paradise is an all-you-can-eat dessert bar!The Hanazono Shrine is kept bright and shiny with donations from the many lucrative businesses in Kabuki-cho.Dinner at the haunted prison restaurant could be just what the doctor ordered…When the sun goes down, Kabuki-cho becomes one of the most fascinating red light districts in the world.

But Kabuki-cho isn’t the only playground in Shinjuku – next door is a warren of small streets called Golden Gai, with alleyways lined with tiny bars that seat 8-10 people each.

A typical street in Golden Gai. Funky, yes. Fancy, no.

Some of these bars welcome foreigners without an accompanying Japanese person, some don’t. If you want to go into one, pause at the entrance and get a feel for whether you’d be welcome or not. If it feels like you’d be welcome, ask the bartender, “Is it OK to come in?” Even if they don’t speak English, they’ll understand and tell you. There’s often a ¥500 – ¥1000 cover charge at these small bars, so if it’s not posted, ask.

Bars in Golden Gai tend to have themes: Goth-Lolita, Cowboy, Elvis, etc. and most have regular patrons warming the small number of barstools.

Goth Central for the cosplay crowd that prefers to drink amid stained glass and gargoyles.

Another way to get the low-down on things you’d otherwise completely miss is by taking the Tokyo Realtime Kabukichō audio tour. You can download it and listen on any MP3 player or iPod/iPhone. It’ll guide you around the neighborhood for about an hour, taking you inside the places it’s OK for foreigners to go and telling you all about the places where it’s not. It’s narrated by my friend Max, and he really discovered a lot of wild stuff about the neighborhood that I didn’t know!

Read a novel set in Tokyo. Fallen Angel takes place in Kabukicho, in the world of host clubs and hostess bars.

The #1 hostboy at Club Nova makes a handsome living, whispering sweet nothings in the ears of women who pay him a fortune for the privilege. But the party’s over when Tokyo Detective Kenji Nakamura is assigned to investigate the death of one of Hoshi’s customers…read more